Lightning Is My Girlhttp://xmadmx.com
i here by open a new world of words, images, mood and light hearts.................... i will try, to fill up the space in cyber world with a chunk of my grey matter translated into this form...hello.Mon, 03 Nov 2014 16:08:32 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1Dark OOOMhttp://xmadmx.com/shop/2010/dark-ooom/
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Although I am on a maternity inner journey for this beautiful year, I have agreed to step out for a special event in the name of Women and Music. Women’s Music Summit is a unique music camp experience nestled in the magical Catskill mountains in upstate NY – it’s quite a deluxe and extravagant WEEK long event. The full package includes accommodations, food, the natural beauty all around AND the musical workshops with the guest women musicians (such as me, kaki king and meshell ndegeocello among many others!). This is certainly a one of a kind experience for any music loving woman out there, i look forward to sharing it with any of you who can make it.

The exceptional Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, has once again invited MAdM to participate in one of their innovating art exhibits. As you may remember OUT OF OUR MINDS (OOOM) Film was programmed along side Pre-Raphealite master painter JW Waterhouse retrospective just over a year ago. This time, MAdM is honored to be part of BIG BANG! a groundbreaking show of contemporary Montreal Artists, all of whom were invited to roam freely the archives of the landmark museum. Here were the ground rules they gave us….

BIG BANG!“As part of this fall’s celebrations, the Museum wished to pay tribute to contemporary creativity by organizing a multidisciplinary exhibition, an innovative and unifying event, free of charge and accessible to everyone. Some twenty renowned artists from several disciplines have been given carte blanche to create an installation, the only condition being that it be based on a work of their choice from the Museum’s collection, to renew and reinvent it. Art inspires artists for all time: “With this original project, the Museum’s collection becomes an open work, justifying the essential mission of this institution: to conserve the works of yesterday that inspire the artists of today,” states Nathalie Bondil, Museum Director.”

so off I went… through the vaults. first looking for swiss art, as i continue my hunt of my heritage and blood lineage. i discovered Hodler and his romantic portrait of an ancient Swiss National Guard aka Hallebardier (yes the ones that guard the pope and Vatican til this very day and the most sought after and deadly fighters of the middle ages). this brought me back to my reoccurring hunt and theme of my weapon of choice….. my photographic project began. i went deeper into their collection of weapons, and found a diverse collection, such as this ceremonial dagger from the congo below….

as during my photographic studies in university, i turned the camera on myself, at which time i was 6 months pregnant. sneak peek below, but to see the whole image and whole piece, you must be in Montreal between now and january 22 ….

WEAPON OF CHOICE“Inviting Ferdinand Hodler’s 10-foot tall “Hallebardier” painting as the central muse for my piece initiated my exploration of the hunt for one’s own Weapon of Choice. L’homme d’armes depicted in this portrait, circa 1895, reflects aspects of my favorite painting traditions happening around that time in Europe. There are echoes of the mysticism of the Pre-Raphaelites that came just before, and the fantasy and nature worship of the blossoming Art Nouveau movement, but here the subject is a Man and his weapon. My Swiss ancestral roots only add to my need to explore the history of Swiss Mercenaries…. Whose battle would you fight?”
xMAdMx

It’s been a while since my last “newsletter transmission”. Since the last one, I’ve seen some of you during the May “Bass – Synth – Visuals Tour” in Europe, others during my Trio of AMAZING summer festivals in my homelands of Switzerland & Canada and the rest of you I’ve pretty much had no contact with, unless you’ve been in tune with my #felinefridays on xMAdMxTwitter … silly, but I cannot hold back my love of felines!

Since last year’s full steam ahead OUT OF OUR MINDS 2010 journey, I’ve been pretty much out of the blog, youstream, music loop. I have been building life. I am due to bring a new female life into the world this week. Perfectly timed for my favorite October Rust season. The “Future HER” will transcend from the other side, carrying wisdom from the beyond, in miniature fingers and black & white blurry vision eyes. This “creation” process has been heavenly for me. I’ve been extremely fortunate to LOVE being pregnant. It’s the most psychedelic and alien transformation of the body, which is leading up to the most extreme physical days of my life, while opening a new portal and gift of LOVE. What a trip.

As I’ve been focusing on the inside and “home” roots, I’ve been very inspired in this last month by the rise of human protest and “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations happening in the outside world. It has been an extremely disappointing year (or decade) as far as politics, progress and much needed CHANGE. The rise of corporate greed and our western world’s “civilized” current political administrations, general lack of concern for basic human and environmental well being has been extremely concerning. It is difficult to imagine individuals having an impact on such powerful mass organizations, but to be apathetic can kill our spirit from the inside. To feel us unite in these masses, can nurture, the individual fire and the spirit to fight for change in whichever small or big ways we can implement. Although I am home, sitting on this couch, with a cat on my lap, waiting for the future woman inside to arrive, I’m out “there” in spirit with you.

EXPRESSION! Now is the time to get out there and speak your mind.
Follow the waves here…. Occupy Wall Street
(go! go! go! Madrid and Rome! Amazing!)

2012 is around the corner – the Mayan calendar predicted a “Quickening” during these months, leading up to the end of an era and the opening of a NEW consciousness come 2012 …. Not sure where these exterior protests are leading to, but it’s a good start. I will be paralleling from the inside …. looking forward to connecting with you on the Other Side x

hello x
it’s mid june 2011. the summer has begun in the north east. i’m preparing for a perfect trilogy of summer music festivals next month SEE SUMMER FESTIVAL NEWS but first i must recap the sweet spring holiday tour of fun we experienced with some of you.

it started, back in my homeland of schwyz switerland. the small town in the alps, that my grandfather and our line of Auf der Maurs have been born and bread for 100′s of years. i first became acquainted with the town and some of my distant relatives during my the tour for my first album. it was very brief day trip and walk through the Auf der Maur family tree book and town but it left an impression. so i planned my return last november during the OOOM 2010 tour, we had a day off, so we made the bus and band take a detour to the picture perfect land again…. 2010 Schwyz Day Off
NOW it’s 2011 and we returned to celebrate an Auf der Maur love union: my second cousin Fred married Nicole, a local musician and music journalist – they met during my visit last year. we joined them for their wedding party, then they organized a show for us to play in neighboring town of Brunnen. a beautiful 90 year old female Auf der Maur was in the crowd and came to meet me after the show with photos of her and my grandfather to prove the relation. cousin veronika! very very sweet indeed.
next stop ROMA! we had the luxury of having 2 ays off to walk the streets and endless churches of rome…..
back to the music. rome show was at beautiful venue circle degli artisti, it was only our second show of this experimental set stripped down to just bass, guitar & synths. we were still finding our musical footing, but as always the roman open hearted, expressive passionate ones, made us feel great. gratzie my roman clan of lovers of sound. there was an honorary polish lover of sound there, przemyslaw! same video man who made the BEHIND THE OOOM IN POLAND tour report in 2010. this time he flew to ROMA and made MAdMRome document for us!

next! sardinia! this was the most southern and isolated parts place i’ve played in a long time…. getting there was old fashioned and surreal: 17 hour ferry ride, each way! there and back! amazing late 80′s kind of Shining-esque boat. we went a bit loopy, watched a polish thriller POSSESSION (isabelle adjiani’s fist film, holy fuck!!!!) anyhow – the people of sardinia were warm and appreciative and we played a brand new modern community performance space . great facility. gratzie!

please imagine what a week in italia means, primarily! amazing food, pasta up to three times a day and lots of jokes about their absurd president’s sex life. it was my first time in TUSCANY too! wow. livorno is an interesting port town. within an hour of being there we went for a walk on the beach, and a young man recognized me, welcomed us and said “you will like it here, the history is all pirates and prostitutes” i do love a freaky transient place! the venue “THE CAGE” was amazing, an old art deco era theater on the grounds of an abandoned fancy old tuberculosis hospital. toto was the fun promoter, who filled us with delicious food and wine and told us about the left wing socialist history of the city. shellac was playing there the following week….

next stop! italian swiss land! ascona, lovely community theater: teatro de gatto. hosted by not a concert promoter, but a music fan architect! ALEX CROW & JEFF LOUCH joined me on this experimental sound spring vacation. they were perfecto blond twins with great chops, good attitudes and matching slick hair! thanks guys for coming on the trip x

next! germanic zig zag. in and out of austria and germany before you could even stop us from getting ticketed on the austrian freeway for not having a “highway pass”… oh no actually they did stop and fine us for that. too bad. VIENNA was a grand highlight of the tour. we played a classy jazz club called “porgy & bess (not sure what that means…) and the crowd was as intense and fantastic as we remembered them from the OOOM TOUR – VIENNA danke! i also learned that fleischer means butcher in german! also, very talented rock photographer RENE HUEMER joined us to document the show. this black & whites are thanks to him that night x

BACK INTO SWISSLAND! yes this was a swiss heavy tour, very very interesting for the family roots research… x in st gallen we played switzerland’s first punk club. still funded by government arts & culture grants, but looking more like a perfect high end music venue by north american standards… amazing organic foods, juices, gear and all that a musician can want. we learned that the sweet bartender next door came from a town that did not grant women the right to vote til the 1990′s…. excuse me??????????????????? ouch. conflicting feelings in my swiss blood right now.
the next day was DAY OFF W/ HR GIGER & QOTSA! what would your redhead writer call a dream day off? picturesque french switzerland countryside, intimate 1500 person outdoor festival with Queens headlining (with perfect loud drone of the SWANS playing before them) – playing their first album head to toe, then an hour of diverse other songs from their catalogue – all happening 40 minutes away from my favorite sci fi fantastical visual mastermind HR GIGER’s (see ” i need i want i will” from my first album) museum in a small castle in the historic town of Gruyere. 24 hours of perfect sound & visual inspiration affirmation.
(i love giger’s BABY MACHINES above)
leading us to the last of the swiss shows – to carry us over to the end of the mini tour: LONDON. our show ended up being the same day as the BIG deal final football match (ever heard of manchester united? well they got beat by barcelona that night) not far from BUSH HALL, the beautiful baroque small theater we were playing. this did not affect or penetrate the intimacy and sweetness of this show. london town, you felt like even more of a home coming than a tiny town in switzerland. so open. so receptive and attentive. aren’t brits supposed to be highly intelligent, emotionally chilly, really clever funny pup dwellers, with little time for romanticism and emotional stuff? not this crowd… after i sang “father’s grave” a woman from the crowd said “your father would be proud”. thank you for sharing the intimacy of music with me.
end of the spring tour………
next icelandic 3 day detour of amazing landscapes, people, lambs & horses. within the first 6 hours of being in reykjavik, i got me an icelandic wool poncho and had a bjork AND jonsi sightings! we rented a car, saw baby spring lamps everywhere, small fishing villages with nothing but a dock and church. rented a car to visit the small, but the most “cosmic” of the glaciers : snaefellsnes. day light for 23 hours. we are seduced to return for more one day.

beyond the amazing viking history lesson, the highlights in the icelandic museum were the old icelandic woman’s riding outfit and an ornate drinking horn… heaven!

it was time to fly home, after a perfecto sonic experimento and spring vacationo…

while flying over greenland, i had time to reflect on my first time alive and playing music with a second heartbeat inside…. i am building a creature child in my center! mother to be, just in time for October Rust… Libra / Scorpio cusp.

so happy to be invited to play the following summer festivals. all very different and special in their own right.

Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland – July 4th :
Established in 1967 by legendary founder and director to this day Claude Nobs (not to mention old friends of Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis and Frank Zappa). Held in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, with an impeccable artist friendly reputation, this festival invited me back again this year, after the HEART BREAKING EMERGENCY LIGHT FLIGHT CANCELLATION NIGHTMARE MERCI, see you next week!!

Festival d’Ete de Quebec – July 13 :
Quebec’s BIGGEST 10 day long festival hosting Metallica to Elton John has invited me to participate for the first time. It’s a pleasure to share the stage with fellow fantasy freaks and European label mates, Coheed and Cambria. As a native Montrealer and Quebecoise, it took me until last year to play Quebec City for the FIRST TIME! Hole, The Pumpkins, my first solo tour never made it up there, so was i ever blown away by the support and enthusiasm when i arrived there for the first time last fall. MERCI Quebec, je me souvien et va etre de retour bientot!

HEAVY T.O!!!!!!!! – July 24:
Where to i begin????? i am so honored, excited and exploding with i-can’t-fucking-wait energy, to participate in a mirror of the same incredible bill from last year’s HEAVY MTL: SLAYER – ROB ZOMBIE – MASTODON – ANVIL and more…… and what’s even more…. is that i, again, am the sole female front person of the day. representing the feminine love of all things HEAVY and the universal love of magic, myth, metal and mayhem. it’s beyond gender, it’s music. for those of you who missed it last year, please take a peek at MAdM TV Meets Heavy MTL – a half hour of interviews and backstage footage of Team MAdM exploring and loving the grounds of Heavy MTL. stay tuned for the next episode… post HEAVY TO…. this time, not only will i be the only WOMAN on the bill, but the only person capable and currently building life inside. METAL Meets THE MYSTERY OF MOTHERHOOD at HEAVY T.O………… more life coming soon!

What an honor and weird virtual reality being invited to be part of the virtual cast of Jean Paul Gaultier muses at the first ever Gaultier museum retrospective!

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has put together a retrospective of his 30 + year career – displaying many outrageous original pieces from his Madonna “justify my love” corsets to his inspired-by-Hasidic Judaism line. The man has worked in themes and concepts all along, not just with clothes, as it was pointed out by Nathalie Bondil (the sexy museum director at the opening I attended last week), but he has also built a fantasy world where all people can co-exist with total tolerance of each others differences… freaks & princesses alike. An amazing artist who has shaped a lot of what pop culture is today (gaga!). It’s an honor to be cast as three of the virgin mermaids in the show, standing along side a virtual version of the man himself…

Here’s some info on the show, if you find yourself in Montreal, between now and October 2nd you must stop in!

Clearly it connected with the concert attendees, as we sold out of our limited edition of 60 on this tour!

Thank you Prorok and those who hang a piece of our May Mini Tour on your wall.

xMx

]]>http://xmadmx.com/news/2011/prorok-special-edition-uk-bass-synth-visual-posters//feed3THINKING ABOUT SPACE MAY HELP YOU…http://xmadmx.com/posts/2011/thinking-about-space-may-help-you/
http://xmadmx.com/posts/2011/thinking-about-space-may-help-you/#commentsTue, 10 May 2011 23:52:53 +0000MAdMhttp://xmadmx.com/?p=2989

BASS – SYNTH – VISUALS

EUROPEAN TINY TOUR 2011
Hunters & Healers!

A little spring update – the OOOM chapter is over and tiny glimmers of new sounds and projects begin. This new chapter marks a new direction for my live performance. We have created a more intimate show for this upcoming May tour of select cities in of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and England. Replacing drums with synths and programmed rhythms I will explore new themes and sonic textures, creating a more ambient atmosphere. I will experiment with my own repertoire and pay tribute to influential works of others. Visual projections will also be incorporated into this unique show – created in collaboration between OOOM film director Tony Stone and Montreal super team FOUMALADE.

There will not be many shows this year, as I dig into new sounds and projects but for those of you in Europe and London I hope to see you this May – otherwise for the Canadians there is always HEAVY T.O. in July!